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The retail sector in a lot of countries consists of many small and medium sized specialty retailers who face a high degree of dynamics and competition. Consequently, these companies also have to constantly evolve and develop resilient strategies that promise their future success. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the resource and capability bundle for operating as and transforming to a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) omni-channel specialty retailer. Therefore, the authors followed the notions of the Resource-Based-View (RBV) and of the Dynamic-Capabilities-View (DCV).

To answer the authors’ formulated research questions, they applied an exploratory research method by conducting 12 semi-structured and guideline-based expert interviews from two countries.

The findings reveal a specific bundle of transformation resources and capabilities and important drivers for the implementation of an omni-channel strategy. Thereby, the human resources factor and the market as well as customer understanding play a decisive role. In addition, the authors have identified country-specific differences in the technological, logistical, product-specific and financial areas.

The results reflect the importance of qualified and well-trained staff for SME retailers to implement omni-channel strategies in alignment with a high level of service quality. Especially in the Covid 19 era, flexible structures and quick adaptability are essential to remain competitive. Nevertheless, everything should always be in line with the company's own philosophy.

The paper provides new insights into important resources and capabilities retailers need to focus on when implementing an omni-channel strategy. The paper concentrates in particular on the groups of SMEs and niche markets as well as examines country-specific differences in a developed and a developing country.

Companies are currently moving from multi-channel strategies to offer their customers an omni-channel (OC) experience. So far, OC research has been mainly tackled from a sales-based view, with numerous operational challenges to be fully investigated yet. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how companies set the logistics variables in their OC management strategy and the business logistics models currently most adopted.

A two-step methodology was adopted. First, a systematic combining approach with scientific literature review and case studies allowed to derive a framework for classifying the key logistics variables and the related options. The framework was then used to conduct a qualitative survey targeting 92 Italian companies operating in food manufacturing, food retailing and non-food retailing. Collected data were analysed by means of cluster analysis.

Implementing an OC management strategy requires to set 11 logistics variables belonging to four strategic areas: delivery service, distribution setting, fulfilment strategy and returns management. A broad empirical investigation showed the choices made by companies when setting the logistics variables to implement an OC management strategy. Lastly, four business logistics models, differing in terms of both business sector and OC maturity, were discussed.

The proposed framework extends earlier studies by including additional significant logistics variables. The empirical analysis provides new insights on how to re-structure the business logistics model in OC, suggesting channel integration and the coexistence of multiple configurations as main enablers of an OC proposition.

Online retailing changes all retail systems significantly. The growing importance of online sales requires the creation of new fulfillment models. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how retailers develop from separate multi-channel (MC) to integrated omni-channel (OC) fulfillment. OC retailing has an integrated perspective, with seamless interactions between online and bricks-and-mortar channels.

More than 60 internationally active retailers and experts from Germany participated in an exploratory survey. With a response rate of 40 percent the authors achieved the goal to adequately depict the German MC and OC retail market. It is currently the largest empirical study of MC and OC fulfillment.

It is the first study to comprehensively analyze the logistical development options open to retailers for integrated fulfillment. The authors discuss the conceptual development options and formulate propositions for an advanced OC fulfillment approach. OC retailers aim to pool their organizational units for fulfillment via different channels. Retailers with multiple channels develop their warehouse systems toward channel-integrated inventory enabling flexible and demand-driven inventory allocation. Retailers with channel-integrated inventory also organize their picking procedures in one common zone. The higher the outlet density, the more it becomes beneficial for retailers to introduce pick-up services.

The research is based on insights from retailers and experts from companies based in Germany.

The findings provide an insight into designing OC fulfillment and distribution structures. The concepts themselves, archetypes, challenges and development paths are analyzed. Identified logistics levers can be adjusted to pinpoint the steps required to advance integration.

The authors contribute by deriving propositions and a framework for transitioning from basic MC to integrated, extended OC logistics. Because this research area is still comparatively young, the authors take a more comprehensive, exploratory view of OC fulfillment.

Given the progressive growth of e-commerce sales and the rising interest in omni-channel (OC) retailing amongst academics and practitioners, the purpose of this paper is to provide an up-to-date literature review on the logistics involved when moving towards OC retailing. Specifically, we have examined the main issues relating to e-fulfilment and distribution, highlighting how the topic has been developed over time, and identifying the most promising research streams for the near future.

A systematic literature review methodology is adopted. The review is based on 58 papers published from 2002 to 2017 in 34 international journals. The papers were analysed and categorised according to their defining characteristics, methodologies adopted and themes addressed.

This paper provides an overview of the main issues relating to e-fulfilment and distribution experienced by companies shifting towards OC, mapped along three dimensions: distribution network design, inventory and capacity management, delivery planning and execution. Despite the growing interest in OC retailing, many key topics are still under-represented, including the evolution of retail distribution networks, assortment planning over multiple channels, the logistics role played by stores in the delivery process and the interplay between different logistics aspects.

The paper offers insights into the main logistics issues in MC and OC retailing, as well as highlights potential fields for further investigation. From a managerial perspective, this paper is useful for retailers adopting an OC approach to guide their future efforts concerning their business logistics model.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a structured literature review using advanced bibliometric tools to understand the existing knowledge base, understand the trends in omni-channel (OC) research and identify emerging research topics.

More than 500 articles selected through a keyword combination search from reputed databases of peer-reviewed academic sources from period 2009–19 are analyzed for the purposes of this study. The study first presents an exploratory analysis to determine influential authors, sources and regions, among other key aspects. Second, several network analyses including co-citation and dynamic co-citation network analyses are conducted to identify themes. These allow identifying research clusters and emerging research topics algorithmically. Both centrality and modularity-based clustering are employed. A content analysis of the most influential groups within OC literature for each cluster is included.

The findings of this paper make unique contributions by using advanced tools from network analysis along with the standard bibliometric analysis tools to explore the current status of OC research, identify existing themes and the guidance for potential areas of future research interest in OC.

This research provides a comprehensive view of the range of topics of importance that have been discussed in the literature of OC management. These research trends can serve as a quick guide to researchers and practitioners to improve decision making and also develop strategies.

The paper employs advanced tools for the first time to review the literature of OC retailing. The sophisticated tools include co-citation and dynamic co-citation network analysis.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of omni-channel capability (OCC) and consumer empowerment (CE) on customer satisfaction (CS).

A paper-based questionnaire was employed to analyse the role of CE in omni-channel retailing (OCR) by using structural equation modelling. Based on the Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this research aims to explore how OCC (S) impacts CE (O) and then leads to CS (R) in consumers who had previously used both the online and physical channels of a retailer.

The findings supported the impact of OCC on CE, and in turn, the impact of CE on CS. The results reveal a partial mediation by CE in the effect of OCC on CS. Additionally, channel service transparency (CST) moderates the relationship between CE and CS.

The findings reveal partial mediator role of CE and the moderator role of CST in OCR. The study draws attention to the increasing role of CE and CST in OCR. To enhance CS, retailers should focus on OCC, CE and CST.

A new model was validated, hypothesized from S-O-R framework. This extended the knowledge on CE in OCR.

For traditional grocery retailers, the growing importance of online sales means creating new logistics models for omni-channel (OC) management. Due to these transformational changes, retail research and practice are lacking a comprehensive view on integrated fulfilment and distribution concepts for home and store deliveries as they have evolved recently. This paper develops a planning framework for last mile order fulfilment in OC grocery retailing and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different design concepts.

The findings were developed and evaluated by means of explorative interviews with grocery retail and logistics experts. Additionally, key literature on last mile order fulfilment and retail supply chain management was reviewed to supplement the integrated OC grocery operations planning framework.

OC logistics planning can be structured into back-end fulfilment (e.g. warehouse and in-store picking) and last mile distribution concepts (e.g. attended and unattended home delivery). The design choices depend on country specifics (e.g. population density), retailer specifics (e.g. capability for cross-channel process integration) and customer behaviour (e.g. possibility of unattended home delivery). The application areas and their contextual factors are discussed for each design parameter.

The last mile fulfilment options identified can be applied to pinpoint the necessary steps for further optimizing OC integration. Grocers can gain insights into current fulfilment concepts used in different contexts. This architecture also forms the foundation for further research on decision support systems.

The coherent planning framework summarizes the general design options for last mile order fulfilment arising from new requirements for OC fulfilment.

The purpose of this paper is to apply resource-based theory to identify the relationships between logistics integration capability, supply chain integration (SCI), and performance in the context of omni-channel retailing (OCR).

An empirical study was conducted based on a mixed methodology that integrates survey research and focus group. In total, 243 retailers in China have been surveyed to examine the hypotheses of the proposed conceptual model, and focus group discussion has been applied to interpret the results and identify the critical concerns on the implementation of omni-channel (OC) strategy.

This study reveals that the information integration capability and organization integration capability in logistics management significantly affects SCI, while the integrated supply chain has a greater significant influence on financial performance than operational performance to OC retailers. Moreover, a firm’s characteristics can be regarded as contextual factors influencing performance in OCR.

The authors obtained valuable insights for both academics and practitioners based on the findings. On the one hand, this is an early attempt to empirically study SCI of OCR, revealing the importance of a firm’s nature in the performance. Therefore, this study fills a current research gap. On the other hand, this research provides top managers of OC retailers, particularly supply chain managers, the awareness of the importance of improving of organizational integration and human-resource management capability. Additionally, this study proposes future research based on its limitations.

SCI is investigated in the context of OCR from a logistics perspective. Moreover, this study reveals that the human-resource management and organization management are the main concerns in the implementation of OCR.

The advent of grocery sales through online channels necessitates that bricks-and-mortar retailers redefine their logistics networks if they want to compete online. Because the general understanding of such bricks-and-clicks logistics systems for grocery is still limited, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the internal logistics networks used to serve customers across channels by means of an exploratory study with retailers from different contexts.

A total of 12 case companies from six European countries participated in this exploratory study. Face-to-face interviews with managers were the primary source for data collection. The heterogeneity of the sample enabled the authors to build a typology of logistics networks in grocery retailing on multiple channels and to understand the advantages of different warehousing, picking, internal transportation and last-mile delivery systems.

Bricks-and-mortar grocery retailers are leveraging their existing logistics structures to fulfill online orders. Logistics networks are mostly determined by the question of where to split case packs into customer units. In non-food logistics, channel integration is mostly seen as beneficial, but in grocery retailing, this depends heavily on product, market and retailer specifics. The data from the heterogeneous sample reveal six distinct types for cross-channel order fulfillment.

The qualitative analysis of different design options can serve as a decision support for retailers developing logistics networks to serve customers across channels.

The paper shows the internal and external factors that drive the decision-making for omni-channel (OC) logistics networks for previously store-based grocery retailers. Thereby, it makes a step toward building a contingency and configuration theory of retail networks design. It discusses in particular the differences between grocery and non-food OC retailing, last-mile delivery systems and market characteristics in the decision-making of retail networks design.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the dynamic capability view to identify relationships between human capital (HC), supply chain integration (SCI) and firm’s performance. It also examines the moderating effect of product variety (PV) on these relationships in the context of omni-channel retailing (OCR).

An empirical study was conducted based on survey research. In total, 230 retailers in China’s market adopting omni-channel strategy were surveyed to examine the hypotheses proposed in our conceptual model using statistical techniques.

This study reveals that HC has a positive impact on SCI, and the impact of employees’ capital is greater on the success of SCI than that of managers’ capital. Moreover, the results confirm that SCI facilitates the achievement of superior performance. Organization integration contributes the most to performance improvement in OCR. Additionally, this study identifies the positive moderating effect of PV on the relationship between HC and SCI, while the moderating effect is insignificant to the influence of SCI on performance.

We obtained valuable insights for both academicians and practitioners. On the one hand, this could be an early attempt as an interdisciplinary study to empirically analyze supply chain management in OCR from human resource perspective. It reveals the importance of human resource management (HRM) and the contribution of SCI to OC retailers. Therefore, this study fills current research gaps. On the other hand, this study provides several practical insights to top management: the importance of improving an individual’s competency to sustain a retailer’s dynamic capability; and the importance of strengthening the organization’s integration to better achieve effective SCI in OCR. Additionally, this study proposes future research based on its limitations.

SCI is investigated in the context of OCR from the HRM perspective. Moreover, this study reveals the importance of HRM and discusses the moderator’s effect in OCR.